Life Lesson #17

This one is for RayCray and the countless nights we spend staying up late watching Moulin Rouge! Love ya girl!

So you want to be a writer?

Are you thinking of becoming an author? Well, here is some advice that you may find a bit helpful from someone who works with books all day...

1. Don't make your name bigger than the title. Nobody cares what your name is, in all honestly, they just want to read your book. It makes you look desperate for fame. It's like guys who drive huge trucks, you know their trying to compensate for something else ;] There are some books where you literally have to squint to read the title. Nobody likes squinting, and no one will read your book.

2. Put your full name on the binding. Especially if you have a common name like Smith, or Brown. It will not only be easier for shelvers to find the right spot for each book, but it will be beneficial to you because all you're books will be together instead of crammed in with all the other Browns'.

3. While we're on the topic of names, use the same font for your name on each of your books (DON'T use tight cursive or weird fonts that are hard to read). It also wouldn't hurt to keep your books all the same size and with the same sort of layouts and/or color schemes. That way whoever is scanning the shelves looking for a book can tell that your books all belong together. It'll make your books stand out from all the others.

4. If your book is in a series... INCLUDE THE STINKIN' NUMBER! Put it on the spine, the cover, and on the cover page in the inside! There are so many series out there that aren't numbered and people get frustrated when they go home with a book and realize they picked the wrong one in the series. AND if you end up writing other books not included in a series, they will all get mixed in together. Take the Twilight series for example; Stephanie Meyer didn't include the numbers on her books so they are all out of order on the shelf, and her other book 'The Host' is right in there with them.

5. If you are wanting to write a mystery book, PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE... don't include any of these words in the title: Dead, death, dying, bones, case, murder, blood or bloody. I would bet you $20 bucks right now that almost half, if not more, of the mystery titles have these words in the title. Come on people! You can be a bit more creative than that.


Anywho, these are some of the things that have been driving me nuts the past few weeks. I know that some of these things are all up to your publisher, but at least let them know what you want and work with what you're given. You will sell more books, and the people who work with them all day won't have a deep seeded resentment for you.

Givaways!

I have been wanting to do giveaways for a while now, but I also want to wait until I reach  

50 followers!

So help a sister out and spread the word my friends! Once I hit 50 I'll start giving out some of my favorite books, jewelry, and other awesomnesses (new word, woohoo!)!

Thanks buds! I love you all!

PS- If you have an etsy shop, or any other kind of crafty business, we can pull a switcheroo and swap! Provide something to giveaway and I'll give you free adverting for your shop! Just let me know if you would be interested, I'm sure we could work something out :] julia.pearce@utah.edu

PSS- If you could re-post this picture on your blog, that would be GREAT! Thanks!

Hello, hello

As I'm writing this, fireworks are going off up at my old high school. I'm sitting in the den by the big windows and the booms and pops are echoing down the hill to my house. Tonight was this year's senior dinner dance... the last big hurrah before the actual party of graduation begins. It feels like just yesterday I was at an old hotel downtown with everyone I grew up with, dancing and laughing and having the time of our lives at our senior dinner dance. None of us knew what was waiting for us on the other side of our little protective bubble we were so eager to pop. And for that one night, we didn't worry about the future. We just soaked in the last few moments we all had together. My last memory of that night was when the DJ turned off the music and announced it was time to go home. Everyone flooded the dance floor one last time and sang "Nah nah nah nah, nah nah nah nah, hey hey hey hey, goodbye..." And that was the moment it hit me that the rest of my life was waiting for me, like a freshly poured slab of concrete and a bucket full of sidewalk chalk.

Since that time almost exactly a year ago, I've learned that nothing goes as planned. I remember the night of graduation, I pictured what my life would be like a year from that day. I won't go into detail about what type of person I envisioned myself as, but I can tell you that the future self I pictured is nothing like the person writing this right now. I have learned some important lessons since that night...

1. Life is much more enjoyable when you take risks. Of course, some risks take a bit more thought than others, but once you make that decision just go out there and do it! Whoever said "nothing ventured, nothing gained" was a wise, wise person. Never leave any room for what-if's. That is the one phrase you will never want to utter when you look back on your life someday.

2. When things are going great, enjoy every moment of them. When they're not, just remember that they won't stay that way for long. A lot of the time those hard times teach you valuable lessons and also make for great stories you can laugh about later. Basically, always acknowledge that every situation has a bright side, and find it.

3. Accept changes. They are coming your way if you wished for them, or not. You might as well try to enjoy them.

4. Don't pay any attention to what others think about you. It seems to me that there are three types of people: 1) Those who try to fit in, 2) those who don't care, and 3) those who reject all things "popular" in order to be different. Be a #2 person. If you like that Ke$ha song, you dance and sing your little heart out. If you like to wear bright pink Croc shoes, you go ahead and do that. If you find watching C-SPAN to be highly invigorating, you watch it! Just do what makes you happy. There is no need to try and act like everyone else, and there is no need to set yourself apart from everyone else. Just be yourself and do what makes you happy.

Life Lesson #16

German Pancakes in a Mug

Have you ever had German Pancakes? 

Well if you haven't, they are amazing. They are light and fluffy and buttery and the edges are a little crispy. Basically they are perfect. The past few mornings I have been craving them really badly, but I didn't want to make the whole recipe just for myself. So with Rick from Bittersweet as my inspiration, I decided to make them in a mug! (I hope you don't mind that I copycatted you Rick!)

German Pancakes in a Mug

A large mug: mine was 4x4" 

(you could try making it in a smaller mug but I would cut the recipe down a bit)

1 1/2 eggs (or 2 egg whites, you decide)

1/4 cup flour
1/4 cup milk
1/8 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon butter

First, heat your oven to 450 degrees. Then, whip eggs in a blender until they are thick and lemon colored. Then add the milk, flour and salt and blend until they are all mixed in. Put the butter in your mug and heat in the warming oven until completely melted. Then, pour the batter into the mug. Bake for 15-20 minutes, or until it raises really high and the edges are golden brown. (Since it's in a mug, you may want to poke the middle with a fork just to make sure the middle is cooke)

If you're too lazy to make this syrup, you can always use regular maple syrup.

Syrup:

1/2 cup water
1/4 cup sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons corn startch
1 1/2 teaspoons butter
1/4 teaspoon vanilla

Food coloring (optional, but much more fun)

Mix everything together in a little pan and stir until it thickens and boils like nobody's business. (I made mine pink :)

And WALA!

Heavenly goodness!

These are also really yummy with fruit!

If you'd like to make regular German Pancakes for more than one person...

...then here is the full recipe. It feeds about 6 people... depending on how hungry they are LOL!

German Pancakes

6 eggs

1 cup flour

1 cup milk

1/2 teaspoon salt

5 tablespoons of butter

Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Whip the eggs in a blender until they are thick and lemon colored. Then add the milk, flour and salt and blend until they are all mixed in. Put the butter in a 9x13" dripper pan and heat in the warming oven until the butter is completely melted. Then, pour the batter into the pan. Bake for 15-20 minutes, or until it raises really high and the edges are golden brown. 

Syrup

2 cups water

1 cup sugar

2 tablespoons cornstarch

2 tablespoons butter

1 teaspoon vanilla

Food color optional

Mix together and continue stirring until it thickens and boils.

Create

I love this video. It has a great message and the music is beautiful too. 

It really doesn't matter what you believe in, but I think this video rings true for us all. And I think it's really neat to know that the things we create will live on far after we ourselves have left this world. When we create, we will never be forgotten.

I know where you live...

You know times are tough when you can't muster the willpower to make a new blog post. This has been me for the past few weeks. They have been a weird few weeks, let me just say that. I think it's due to the fact that 1) I now have a job that leaves me pretty worn out every day 2) The weather is starting to warm up and I'm inside on the laptop less and less, or 3) I have come the the realization that "Holy *expletive*, I've been out of high school for a year now and I'm half way done with college!" I'm practically a legit adult now... how the crap did that happen?

Despite the lack of blogger contact, a lot has happened since I last posted...

So I met this guy from school in January and we started hanging out and going on dates quite a bit. This went on for a couple of months until one day in March he gave me a call to tell me that he had met another girl and they were together so "we could only be friends now". This news kind of shocked me because 1) we had spent a lot of time together, and 2) he was always talking about how he didn't like commitment and liked to take things slow. Luckily the shock wore off after a day or two when I realized he really wasn't worth my time. The reason I'm bringing this up now is because I found out last Sunday that, drumroll please... him and his girlfriend are now engaged. Yeah I said it, engaged! After knowing each other for less than 2 months. GAG! Can I just say that I dodged the freakin' bullet on this one?? It's just weird to think that two months ago this guy was my cuddle buddy and now he's practically a married man. Gross.

Speaking of crazy people, on Monday I had some random dude I've never met in my entire life show up at my work with a bouquet of flowers and a box of candy with a note that read, and I quote,


"Hi Jay-
I was passing through and thought that you could use a pick me up! So enjoy the treats and have a great evening at work. It was nice to meet you :)
-Gary*
P.S. Yes, I did just go through all of this just to meet you :) Cheers!"


*Name has been changed so this dude doesn't find me and kill me in my sleep.


Umm... talk about CREEPER!!!! Luckily he just gave them to one of the librarians and I didn't have to see this weirdo face to face. I was thoroughly creeped out the entire day. I was looking over my shoulder every two seconds just waiting for someone's face to appear between the rows of books.

Now that school is out, it's time for finals... aka "Freak, I Never Actually Learned this Shiz" (I was going to use the real words but remembered that family reads this, hehe.) Not that I've studied much... it's just a wonderful excuse to attribute my mood to. My last final is Thursday... have I studied for it yet? Nope! Will I study anytime between now and then? Maybe... if I'm lucky.